Ukraine’s air force said yesterday that it shot down 18 out of 23 Iranian-made Shahed drones and one missile that Russia fired at its territory overnight.

One person was killed, 10 were wounded and four appeared to be trapped under rubble following overnight Russian missile attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko and regional officials said yesterday.

Ukraine said yesterday it had downed 74 out of 75 Russian drones overnight, in what it said was the biggest such attack since the start of the invasion.

A third wave of Russian forces is attacking the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka and systematically shelling the centre of the industrial hub, its Ukrainian head said yesterday.

In a heated shelter near the eastern front line, Ukrainian serviceman, Dmytro, looked on as a mouse sniffed the air and then scuttled behind plastic sheeting insulating the walls and ceiling.

The Ukrainian army yesterday said it pushed Russian forces back “three to eight kilometres” from the banks of Dnipro river, which if confirmed would be the first meaningful advance by Kyiv’s forces months into a disappointing counteroffensive.

Ukraine said yesterday a blast triggered by “local resistance movements” in the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol the previous day killed Russian military officers at a headquarters of the occupation authorities.

A missile targeted Kyiv yesterday, ending nearly two months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital, while frontline regions fended off waves of drone attacks overnight.

Russian forces are fighting to surround the war-battered frontline town of Avdiivka and capture a strategically-located factory nearby, a Ukrainian military spokesman said yesterday.

Russia launched a massive drone attack early yesterday, hitting critical infrastructure in the west and south of Ukraine and destroying private houses and commercial buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, officials said.

Russia has shelled more than 100 settlements over the last 24 hours -- more than in any single day so far this year, Ukraine said yesterday.

Russian forces shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula overnight, Moscow’s Defence Ministry said yesterday.

Russian forces heavily shelled the centre of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson yesterday, injuring eight people and destroying or damaging at least 15 buildings, a senior city official said.

A Russian drone attack damaged buildings near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in western Ukraine in the early hours of yesterday and 20 people were wounded, officials said.

Russian missile strikes killed at least six postal workers and wounded 17 others Saturday when they hit a mail depot in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, officials said.

Russian forces have made gains in their Ukraine offensive, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, referring to several areas, including  Avdiivka, a symbolic industrial hub where fighting has been fierce.

Kyiv reported “heated” fighting around its eastern city of Avdiivka yesterday, saying Russian forces had “not stopped assaulting” the symbolic industrial hub for days in their attempt to surround it.

At least two people were killed and 15 wounded in Russian air strikes in southern and eastern Ukraine yesterday, Kyiv said, as Russian and Ukrainian forces fought fierce battles around the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka.

Russia pounded port and grain facilities in southern Ukraine yesterday and launched new attacks on the eastern town of Avdiivka in one of its biggest offensive operations in months.

Russia yesterday said its forces had strengthened their position on the frontline near Avdiivka, a day after Ukraine warned Moscow was stepping up strikes to encircle the eastern town.